Dr. Shimon Samuels: 'UNESCO Bears Responsibility For The Consequences'

 
The following news report was submitted today by the Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC). 

“UNESCO bears responsibility for the consequences,” said SWC International Relations Director Dr. Shimon Samuels following today’s vote by UNESCO's World Heritage Committee. This follows last week's vote by UNESCO's erasing the Jewish identity of the Western Wall and Temple Mount.

Dr. Samuels, pictured reporting from UNESCO Headquarters after today's vote, summarized:

The potential danger of Article 18 of the [UNESCO World Heritage Committee] Resolution in calling the Western Wall “part of Al Aqsa Mosque/Al Haram Al Sharif" could provoke further violence against Jews in Israel and Christians throughout the Middle-East

Mosques, media and schools throughout the region can now claim that non-Muslims at the Wall are trespassing on Al Aqsa.

He congratulated Tanzania for cracking the Palestinian conception of “consensus” - as meaning unanimity - by demanding a secret ballot 

Shimon Samuels with Israeli Ambassador to UNESCO Carmel Shama-HaCohen who was recalled back to Israel following today's vote.

Additionally, Dr. Samuels reported that one diplomat confided that the Palestinians had refused inclusion of “The Temple Mount” in parenthesis after “Al Aqsa Al Haram Al Sharif,” in exchange for the agreement granted by Israel to accept “Al Quds” in parenthesis after “Jerusalem” - the Palestinians refused, as recognition of any Jewish antecedents in Jerusalem, they believe, would legitimize Israel’s existence.

Samuels also lobbied several Ambassadors, including the Turkish – who had worked on the resolution in July at the World Heritage Commission in Istanbul – where the text was frozen due to the failed coup d’État.

Another [Ambassador] protested privately, "While cultural heritage was being destroyed in Syria, Iraq and Libya, the Palestinians abused the World Heritage Committee's time and patience ... ."